In 2010, the Southwest Power Pool approved a group of “priority” high voltage electric transmission projects estimated to bring benefits of at least $3.7 billion to the Southwest Power Pool region over the next 40 years. As a result, the Midwest Transmission Project was assigned to Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) and Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) to design, construct and maintain a 180 mile, 345kV transmission line, and KCP&L was responsible for a new 345 kV Switchyard. KCP&L formed a partnership with American Electric Power and Transource Missouri to build their 145 miles of 345 kV line and the switchyard. Transource hired ECI to provide the Project Management services for this project including:

• Public outreach
• Routing and ROW acquisition
• Environmental planning and permitting
• Design Studies
• Swithchyard engineering
• Transmission line engineering
• Procurement
• Material vendor and contractor selection
• Construction Management and inspection
• Material Management
• Contract and Cost Management
• Testing and Commissioning
• Tracking and Reporting
• Project Safety

To efficiently direct the multi-disciplinary team, ECI provided a dedicated, full-time Project Manager responsible for orchestrating project communications, tracking schedules and budgets and monitoring risks through to project energization. The ECI Project Manager served as the direct line of communication between the Transource management and KCP&L and AEP staff and contractors. The Program Manager was assigned on-site to provide direct and on-going coordination. This allowed the project team to develop a positive relationship and continued focused communication with the project stakeholders. The Project Manager remained on-site through the duration of the project. The advantages of having a dedicated Project Manager were clear. The project was energized six months ahead of the SPP required completion date and significantly under the original budget commitment to SPP. These successes were due to careful attention placed on managing risks, schedule and budget by the ECI Project Manager.